Rukia's Promotion
by neowhyachi
Summary: When the Master of Interrogations for the 2nd division goes on an extended mission she choses Rukia to replace her and introduces Rukia to her unique interrogation method.
1. Chapter 1

Rukia's Promotion

Chapter I The Surprise

Ichigo, Renji and Rukia walked down the streets of Karakura Town having exited one of the many sushi bars. Ichigo and Renji were involved in a heated discussion.

"I don't see why you have to do that ridiculous thing anways," Renji said.

"For the last time, it's called Dance Dance Revolution," Ichigo said getting a little annoyed, "And I have to practice it, because ever since my dad bought one for the house he's been challenging me. If I lose I have to do his half of the chores while he lies around and does nothing. And if I refuse then Yuzu will take it upon herself to do them and then Karin will get mad at both of us….I really miss the days where he'd randomly attack me."

"So why'd you have to go to a sushi bar to practice?"

"Because he hogs the one at home and the ones at the arcade always have crowds and lines around them."

"Well, big crowds are less likely to notice you I'd think the wait would be worth it, considering how much you embarrassed yourself tonight."

"What the hell did you say?!" Ichigo shouted angrily as he gave Renji a death stare.

"I'm just saying in that small room all those people could see you flailing your arms around like an idiot."

"I'm an idiot?" Ichigo said in disbelief, "The one time you tried it you fell flat on your ass."

"Say that again and I'll make you fall flat on your ass!" Renji shouted raising his fist. Ichigo quickly raised his as well.

"Alright you two break it up," Rukia said stepping between them, "Is this silly game really…worth…kill……" She started to say before trailing off.

"Rukia? Are you okay?" Ichigo asked in concern before he noticed what she was staring at, "Is…is that who I think it is?"

"I think it is," Renji said joining them as they stared.

The trio had stopped outside one of the finer restaurants in Karakura Town and through the large windows on the front of the restaurant they could see Hanatarō Yamada of the 4th squad seated at the table. The medical squad shinigami was dressed impeccably in a full tuxedo. To his right they noticed his table-mate an attractive girl wearing a black backless dress with her long teal hair tied in a pony tail.

"It's Hanatarō…is…is he on a date?" Icigo said still in shock.

"I think he is, but I've never seen her before," Rukia said.

"How'd that mousey little guy end up with a babe like her?" Renji asked.

The trio watched as the girl unwrapped a gift Hanatarō had given her. Though they couldn't see what it was it was clear she enjoyed it by the huge smile that came across her face and what could only be an excited "thank you" that followed. The girl then leaned over and embraced Hanatarō in a hug. Hanatarō's face instantly reddened and he fell out of his chair having seemingly fainted.

"It's defiantly Hanatarō," Rukia said smiling.

"Wanna bet his head would've exploded if she kissed him," Ichigo said.

"I'm glad for him," Rukia said, "Though I always thought he had feelings for Lieutenant Kotetsu."

"I always thought he and Ganju had a thing going," Renji added.

Upon hearing this Rukia and Ichigo recoiled in horror.

"Dammit Renji!" Ichigo shouted smacking the back of Renji's head, "Why the hell did you have to say that? Now that, that image has entered my mind I'll never be able to unsee it."

"I wonder where he got that tuxedo." Rukia said, "The 4th division doesn't make much money and I don't think he had any living world money."

"He got it from us," said multiple voices from the behind them.

"What the…." Ichigo said in shock upon turning to see the entire Shinigami Women's Association emerging from a bush.

"Hi Ichii," Yachiru said greeting him.

"You're helping him?" The trio said together confusedly.

"Well both of them actually," Rangiku Matsumoto said, "Don't the 7th seats of the 2nd and 4th division make the cutest couple."

"I guess," Renji said, "So who's the girl?"

"She is Shigure Takeada 7th seat of of the 2nd division and Master of Interrogations for the Stealth Force," Soi Fon, Captain of the 2nd division responded matter-of-factly.

"So you've set up the biggest marshmallow in sereitei with a professional torturer," Ichigo said.

"Maybe he's into that kind of thing," Renji said.

"Good point. So, what other help are you providing?" Rukia asked her curiosity piqued.

"Well their respective captains gave them passes to the world of the living, and we supplied the funds for the wonderful clothes and tickets to the greatest concert in Karakura Town," Matsumoto said handing them a brochure.

"The London Symphony Orchestra Presents: Video Game Music of the Past Decade?" Renji, Rukia, and Ichigo read aloud in confusion.

"And I brought along something special," Yachiru said happily.

"What?" Ichigo said a little afraid.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Shouted a familiar voice as Kenpachi Zaraki, Ikkaku Madarame, and Yumichika Ayasegawa emerged from a smaller bush beside the one that the girls had emerged from.

"K..k…k….Kenpachi? What are you doing here?" Ichigo said in horror taking a few steps back.

"And how'd you all fit behind that bush?" Rukia asked

."We used the leaves to hide the shine from Ikkaku's head," Yumichika said.

"That didn't answer the question at all," Ichigo said.

"They're here to beat up any super cool guys that try to steal Shi's heart, like what happens in Big Boobs' romance books," Yachiru said.

"But when I was in the 11th division we despised the 4th and would never help a member of them. Did things change?" Renji asked.

"No, but Yachiru threatened to shave Yumichika's head if we didn't do this. We figured it'd be okay to break the taboo just once in order to avoid weeks of Yumichika complaining," Ikkaku said.

"It'd be the greatest sin against beauty ever," Yumichika said visibly shuddering.

"Heh, if she did, you and Ikkaku would be practically twins," Renji said.

"Don't say such horrible things!" Yumichika shouted.

"Which is why the next time we meet Ichigo, you and I will able to fight freely without the threat of annoyance," Kenpachi said.

"But why are you guys going all out to help them on what seems like a regular date?" Rukia asked.

"Because since she is the newest member of the Shinigami Women's Association Lieutenant Matsumoto felt it should be our duty to ensure Shigure Takeada has a wonderful romantic evening with Hanatarō Yamada before she departs on a month long mission to real world to a place called New York," Nanao Ise the 8th division Lieutenant said in a businesslike manner.

"And I said they should go to real world so when Kenny came along he could say hi to you Ichii," Yachiru said smiling.

"Thanks, but it wasn't necessary," Ichigo said his eye twitching.

"Awwww are you upset you and Kenny don't get to fight and have fun?"

"Ya Ichigo he came all this way to see you and it doesn't look like you're enjoying his company," Rukia said enjoying the moment.

"Hey, you don't have a sadistic battle loving super strong maniac constantly wanting to fight you of your own so why don't you butt out?"

"Uh Ichigo, he's standing right there," Renji said.

"He doesn't care. He probably thinks it's a compliment," Ichigo said still a little agitated.

"Why don't you three continue this pointless discussion later," Soi Fon said interrupting, "I'm here for another reason too."

"Oh crap she found that drawing of Yoruichi," Renji said fearfully.

Soi Fon merely responded by kicking him in the face.

"You really are an idiot sometimes Renji," Ichigo said.

"As I was saying, I am here for another reason. I want to see you first thing in the morning," Soi Fon said pointing to Rukia.

"Me? Why?" Rukia asked with a hint of concern.

"Because Shigure chose you as a temporary replacement as Master of Interrogations."

Ichigo and Rukia stood there in stunned silence at this revelation while Renji was lying on the ground from Soi Fon's kick to the head.

"Remember first thing tomorrow," Soi Fon repeated as she flash stepped away.

After a few more moments of Rukia standing in silence Yachiru said, "I think she broke her brain."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II- Rukia the Replacement

Rukia ran along the narrow streets of the Seireitei towards the 2nd Division's headquarters. She stopped briefly to observe how some of the other shinigami were adapting to the heat wave that had enveloped the Seireitei.

Matsumoto was sun bathing in the nude. Yachiru was pestering Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya to release his Hyorinmaru to create an artificial snow storm. Hitsugaya, being in the middle of all this was on the verge of having a stroke.

Resuming her journey, Rukia was relieved that the 2nd Division Headquarters was surprisingly cool when she arrived there. She eventually made her way through a large set of double doors into the 2nd Divisions formal meeting place, as she had been instructed to do. Inside she found four other people waiting for her. Captain Soi Fon stood at the center of the room. Shigure Takeda stood to her right looking as she had the previous night, except she was now wearing a navy blue hakama and holding a pad of paper. The biggest surprise for Rukia was that the two other occupants of the room were Captains Jushiro Ukitake and Byakuya Kuchiki.

"Captain Ukitake? Brother?" She said in disbelief.

"You're late," Soi Fon said.

"I'm sorry, but you never stated a specific time for me to be here," Rukia said in a apologetic tone.

"Stop apologizing," Soi Fon said, "You're here now and we can get started."

"I wish we didn't have to," Ukitake said, "I've been against your choice of Rukia since the beginning."

"You knew about this Captain?" Rukia said in surprise.

"Since the Master of Interrogations helps with all of the 13 Court Guard Squads we were given a list of the possible replacements at the last Captain's Meeting," Byakuya said.

"The 13th squad has never had use for the Master of Interrogations. I can't believe we actually allow others to be subjected to such violence and torture," Ukitake said in disgust.

"You may frown upon it, but it is necessary to keep order within the Soul Society," Byakuya said, "And if Rukia chooses to help maintain that order I have no qualms about her agreeing to be the replacement"

"Excuse me," Rukia said, "But I was curious as to why I was chosen for the position?"

"I'm glad you asked that Miss Kuchiki," Shigure said.

"Please call me Rukia."

"Only if you return the favor by calling me Shigure," Shigure said with a smile.

"Get to the point Shigure," Soi Fon said with a hint of irritation.

"Sure thing, Captain Soi Fon," Shigure said as she flipped to a certain page in her pad of paper, "Now when I knew I had to choose a temporary replacement I looked into several factors that would make an ideal candidate. You happened to fit into all the categories Rukia. Moderate to high knowledge of kido, You have a familiarity with the Rukongai district, which is vital since some of criminals brought to us originate from there, Knowledge of the Living World should you need to go there, and finally personality wise you'd be the perfect interrogator, not overly nice and not sadistic." Shigure decided to provide a visual aid to the last part of her speech by showing a crude graph, that showed her art skills were on par with Rukia's with crudely drawn representations of Kenpachi Zaraki and Jushiro Ukitake on opposite ends of the graph, with Rukia in the middle.

"Wow," Rukia said, shocked at all the information Shigure had collected on her.

"And now the most important part of this meeting," Shigure said, "I need your decision, so that way if the answer is no, I can talk to the other candidates."

"Well…." Rukia said not realizing the responsibility of choosing would be thrust upon her so soon. She stopped to think turning towards Ukitake and Byakuya on occasion.

"Whatever your choice, I won't hold it against you," Ukitake said, sensing her indecision.

"And you know my opinion on the matter already," Byakuya said.

Rukia thought about it a little more before Soi Fon interrupted her thought process, "Time is a factor. Decide."

"Please don't rush her, Captain, it's an important decision," Shigure said.

"…..I'll do it," Rukia said reaching her decision.

At this revelation Shigure practically jumped for joy, while Ukitake merely shook his head in slight disappointment as he and Byakuya turned to leave.

Byakuya paused briefly to say, "Congratulations on your promotion Rukia," Without any hint of excitement or happiness.

After they had left Rukia looked at Shigure and asked, "What now?"

"Now your training begins. This way please," Shigure said pointing to an open door at the far end of the meeting hall.

As Rukia followed Shigure through the door she found herself in a long hallway.

"Wow, that was intense," Shigure said breathing a sigh of relief, "Usually being in a room with just Captain Soi Fon is intimidating enough."

"Doesn't working with criminals get intense as well?" Rukia asked.

"Yes, but in those situations I'm more in control…plus I don't have to worry about offending them."

"I see. I hope you don't take offense but, you don't seem to have the physical appearance of a normal interrogator."

"That's because I don't use the ultra violent methods of my predecessors. We found out two things when it came to beating people to a pulp for information. First they'll say anything to get you to stop, which leads to only a 65% accuracy of information rate. Second when someone's body is under enough stress and the adrenaline gets flowing they can actually go berserk and develop a type of temporary super strength. My method is not only non-violent but ensures a 100% accuracy of information rate."

"What method is that?" Rukia asked.

"Hypnosis," Shigure replied.

"Hypnosis? Like what Aizen's zanpakuto could produce?"

"Yes, but like he explained before defecting he can make people see, hear, and feel whatever he wants. And while his tends to be more illusion based mine is just plain mind control."

"Mind control?" Rukia said in surprise.

"Yup, ah here we are," Shigure said sliding open a door that she quickly entered. Rukia soon followed and found herself in a small room. A low to the ground table sat in the middle with pillows on either side of it and chairs lining the wall. A small wooden box was on the table.

"Please have a seat," Shigure said gesturing to a pillow beside her. After Rukia had sat down Shigure slid the box over to her, "This is for you."

Rukia cautiously removed the top of the box and saw three items within. She first removed a small cloth pouch.

"Those are some writing utensils. You're going to be taking lots of notes and filling out reports," Shigure explained.

Rukia reached and removed the second item, an odd looking key.

"That's the key to the 2nd division archives. You'll occasionally get a repeat offender and if you want learn more about them before preceding with the interrogation you'll find my notes in the archives."

Rukia gave a small nod of acknowledgement before removing the third object, a silver pocket watch on a chain.

"What's this for?" Rukia asked giving it an odd look.

"That, is one of the more important tools you'll be using. The way I perform hypnosis a focal point is necessary. Before I used a jeweled pendant, but then I learned about this method in the living world. To them it's considered a cliche', but it works wonders for me."

"I see," Rukia said still trying to wrap her head around all that was happening, "But what if you need to use it on your mission?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem; Hanataro gave me a new one last night as a gift. I think he's still too nervous to give me gifts that are just well…gifts and not something with practical use."

"I've been meaning to ask, so that two of my idiot friends will stop arguing and coming up with strange theories, how did you two get together?" Rukia asked.

"It's kind of a short tale, so I'll enlighten you," Shigure said, "We met at a party that was being held for the other 7th seats. At one point in night Hanataro was walking by me and he tripped, and he fell so that his face landed between my breasts. I spent the next hour convincing him I wasn't going to kill him. After that we got to know each other a little better and the rest, as they say is history."

"Thank you," Rukia said, "That should shut them up…until they find something else to argue about."

"Whelp that's enough fun for now, so let's get back to work," Shigure said turning the conversation back to the task at hand, "Now since I've incorporated hypnosis into the mix, the Master of Interrogations also deals with memory recovery in those that were injured in battle, since memories tend to decay due to time in recovery or blocked out entirely due to trauma."

"I would think Captain Unohana would be against the use of your services, just like Captain Ukitake," Rukia said.

"She was at first, but then they found out that it was actually a great source of therapy in helping injured shinigami deal with the trauma of the event mentally while the 4th division helped them physically."

"I understand," Rukia said beginning to take notes on all of Shigure's instructions.

"But before we go any further, we've got to cover the most important thing, teaching you hypnosis."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Well, I feel a person learns about something best when they experience it first hand. So if you'll just sit back I'm going to hypnotize you now."

"What?!" Rukia shouted in surprise jumping to her feet.

"Sorry to spring this on you so suddenly, but it's kind of necessary."

"Can't you teach me without it," Rukia said, still a little freaked out.

"I could, but it could take weeks, even months. However if you're hypnotized your mind will be more receptive to my instructions and you can learn it in a very short time. And besides I'm only using it as a teaching tool, I'm not going to turn you evil or make you do embarrassing stuff, like a strip tease in front of the male shinigami."

"And if I say no?"

"I would not hold it against you. I would however have to track down the next candidate in line, and hopefully you and I could become friends over time since you and Hanataro are friends."

Rukia looked back and forth between the door and Shigure, who had just asked to take control of her mind. Finally she gave out a sigh, "Alright, what do I need to do?"

"Well first, you can sit back down. Once I hypnotize you, you'll be so relaxed your body will be like a rag doll and if you're standing up while that happens you might end up falling. And you falling on your butt would violate my 'no embarrassing stuff' promise."

Rukia complied with Shigure's request and sat back down, while Shigure reached into her hakama and pulled out a pocket watch that was similar to the one she had given Rukia except it was gold. She held it by the chain and so that it dangled at Rukia's eye level.

"Alright Rukia, now just focus on the pocket watch.," Shigure said as she began to swing the watch back and forth, "You are completely focused on it as it swings back and forth you can't look away, and you will not pay attention to anything except my voice."

Rukia was shocked to find she could not tear her eyes away from the watch and suddenly found herself listening more intently to Shigure then ever before.

_What have I gotten myself into?_ She thought.

"Still focusing on the watch, watching it swing back and forth…back and forth, Shigure continued, "Noticing the light reflecting off it drawing your attention to it even more. Let yourself begin to grow calm. Let your breathing slow to a relaxed pace in synch with the watch. Back and forth. In and Out. Notice the light reflecting off it again, letting the beauty of the watch shine forth. It is a beautiful watch isn't it? It's so beautiful your attention is now focused solely on the swinging pocket watch. You see nothing else. You're also noticing how calming and relaxing my voice is. You don't want to listen to anything else except my voice. Your world is just the watch and my voice as you begin to relax for me. Relax. Feel relaxation begin to encompass your body and your mind. Let all your stresses and worries fade away. This is not the time to worry about any problems; it is just time to relax. Now let the tension leave the rest of your body…from your toes all the way to your head let your muscles become limp and loose as you relax even more. Your body and mind are totally relaxed. And as the relaxation continues you are beginning to grow sleepy. Very very sleepy. You can feel it in your eyes. They are getting heavy and feel like they want to close. In fact when I count from three to zero they will be so heavy they will close and you will fall into a deep deep hypnotized sleep. Three…so sleepy, so relaxed. Two…letting the hypnosis take hold….One…You can barely hold your eyes open. Zero…Now sleep."

When Shigure reached zero Rukia's eyes fluttered a few times before finally closing and her head dropped down towards her chest.

"Can you hear me Rukia?" Shigure asked.

"Yes Mistress Shigure," Rukia responded in a monotone.


End file.
